How's this for an art project? Teacher Lee Phillips will spend three years drawing every single item in his late grandad's shed

The shed in Aberbargoed has been left untouched for 20 years and contains tens of thousands of items

Lee Phillips is drawing every single item left in his grandad's shed which hasn't changed since he died 20 years ago

Since Lee Phillips’ grandfather died 20 years ago, his extraordinary shed has been left completely untouched.

Handel Jones, 64, was as a miner with a passion for fixing things and had tens of thousands of items in his treasure chest of tools.

He died in June 1994 and his wife Myrtle has not moved a single piece of equipment in the garden shed in Aberbargoed since.

Now Lee, who works as an art teacher, is planning to spend the next three years drawing every single nut, bolt, screw and rivet.

Once complete, his work will go on display at museums in the area and will also hopefully form part of a PHD study he is looking to undertake.

As well as the drawings, Lee will also replicate the shed exactly as it looks today with 3d cardboard cutouts in a newly-built shed at his mum and dad John and Marilyn’s house, which is on the same road as Handel’s home in Elm Street, Aberbargoed.

The 34-year-old will be taking a sabbatical from work next year to work on the project.

He said: “I’ve had this idea for about six months and it followed a project I did last year where I did a drawing a day for a whole year.

“I started drawing tools and thought I’ve got a great source with my grandad’s tools.

“This shed will disappear one day so I want to record it so it will be remembered.

“My grandmother is 80 now and is massively protective over the shed. She has treated it as a mausoleum and even now, with the closest of family, she becomes visibly agitated if any of us have the rare need to go anywhere near it.

Lee grew up in Aberbargoed but now lives in Pembrokeshire and works at Sir Thomas Picton School in Haverfordwest

His grandad started work down the pit as a beltsman at Elliots Colliery, which was on the site of The Winding House Museum in New Tredegar – one of the places the drawings will be displayed.

He later went on to work at Britannia Colliery.

Lee said: “After finishing in the pits as a result of ill-health, my grandad began work in the local mining school, delivering lectures and speaking to local schools about life underground.

“He later surrounded himself with mining paraphernalia and collected the obvious lamps, gas detectors and lamp checks. Although these are interesting objects to record, it is the content of that shed that is by far the most intriguing to me.

“It is full of objects and collections of items that only a lifetime of collecting and hoarding can amass.

“It is my intention to record every object in that shed. Every tool, every screw, rivet and salvaged item will be drawn.”

“I think it will take at least three years as there are tens of thousands of items. The time they have been given and their sheer aesthetic sensibilities need to be remembered, need to be recorded.”

The first of the drawings will go on display next September at The Winding House. The display will then move on to Big Pit, Tenby Museum and Narbeth Museum.

Lee is also hoping to start a charity to support families in the valleys who can’t afford equipment to fund their talents.

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